Door



Jan. 1s, 1944. L. EJACKSON 2,339,569

kDOOR Filed March 22, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheei*l 1 Jan. 1s, 1944.

L.. E. JACKSON DOOR Filed March 22. 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 lmvefzor: glia E Jackson.

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Patented Jan. 18, 1944 UNETE STATES ATENT OFFICE.

DOOR

Application March 22, 1941, Serial No. 384,686y

(Cl. i60-37) Ii Claims.

My invention relates to doors and the like and more particularly to doors of the telescopic type.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved door construction particularly weil adapted to span unusually large openings such, for instance, as for aircraft hangers, factories and the like.

Another object is the provision of a novel improved means for operating such doors.

Another object is the provision of novel effective guide means for insuring uniform smooth operation of the door members.

Another object is the provision oi novel means for counterbalancing the operation of the doors.

Another object is to provide door supporting posts between the side edges, which. move out of the doorway with the panels whereby to avoid obstructions in the doorway.

and

and and How the foregoing and other aims and advan tages are accomplished will become clear from the following detailed description of one presently preferred adaptation of my invention, for which purposes reference will be made to the accompanying drawings', in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. l:

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section, similar to Fig. 2, but illustrating the panels in retracted position; and

Fig. 4 is a plan section on line Ll--ll of 3.

The device is mounted in a door opening along each side of which guideways 5 .are provided as by oppositely disposed angle irons S secured to side members l, or they may be secured to the building structure itself vertically along the sides of the doorway. Slidable along these ways 5 there are panels, there being three such panels here shown and identified as B, 9 and l-, respectively, although my invention contemplates the use of any number of such panels.

Disposed above the door opening, and prefen ably inside the building, a stationary framework is provided including corner posts I2 and intermediate posts I4, Uta, cross members I5, i and I'l and horizontal supports I9, on which latter the drive motors M and Worm drives 'l are mounted. The motors M and worm drives 2li are of conventional structure and l show two for the door here illustrated. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, corner posts i2 extend to the floor of the building.

Journalled at each end in bearings S0, 3l there is a drive shaft 35 driven by the worm drives 2U, and secured on the shaft, in spaced relation to each other, are three stepped cone pulleys 3l, 38, 3'9. As best shown in Fig. 1, each of these pulleys is provided with three steps, although, in general, the number of steps depends upon the number of panels constituting the door in a given case. From the step of smallest diameter, a cable 6G leads and is secured to the top of the uppermost panel B; from the step of next largest diameter a cable Lil leads and is secured to the top 0f the intermediate panel Q, and from the step of largest diameter a cable i2 leads and is secured to the top of the bottom panel lil. Thus, as shaft 35 is rotated counterclockwise, the cone pulleys act to pull the respective panels upwardly at such progressively varying speeds as to cause all of them to reach the uppermost or telescoped condition (as shown in Fig. 3) sub stantially simultaneously. The number of cone pulleys employed depends upon the width of a particular door-it being desirable to so space them apart along the shaft as to cause the lifting cables to be so applied along the panels as to eifect a substantially uniform pull on the panels throughout their width, thus preventing Wedging. The worm drives are preferably spaced along the shaft so as to evenly distribute the torque.

Secured to and spaced along shaft so as to distribute the torque, are two pulleys 5S, aile around which cables iii, illu, respectively, are wound in the opposite direction from the wind of cables 4i), il and d2 around the cone pulleys. These cables lead over pulleys 52, 52o and 5222) to the respective counterweights 55, 55a carried at their ends, whereby to counterweight the panels. The total weight of counterweights 55o is preferably slightly less than the total weight of the panels so as to allow the panels to move downwardly by Virtue of their own Weight when the shaft 35 is rotated clockwise, as shown in the drawings, to unwind the cables from the cone pulleys. The worm drives 2@ being self locking, the panels may be stopped in any position by stopping the motors M.

Another important feature of my invention is the means which ideally adapts it for use in the spanning of unusually large openings. For instance, aircraft hanger doors are often several hundred feet in Width, and unless the doors are reenforced and prevented, from spreading apart between their greatly spaced side edges, they do not operate evenly and smoothly, they become warped and are apt to rattle. This means includes telescoping posts carried by the respective panels, here generally designated by the numerals 60, 6|. While only two such posts are here shown, a greater or smaller number may be used, depending upon the width of the door. Inasmuch as the structure of each of these posts is the same, only one of them will be here specifically described.

Thus, referring more particularly to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the structure of post 60 is as follows: secured to panel I0, by means of angles 80, there is a vertical post 8| of I cross-section. A similar post 82 is secured to panel 9 by angles 84 and a like post 85 is secured to panel 8 by angles 81. Secured to post 8| there is a yoke |05 which mounts guide rollers |00, which rollers travel along the channels provided at the opposite sides of the post 82 carried by panel 9, and secured to post 82 there is a like yoke |08 which mounts guide rollers |09, which latter rollers travel along the channels provided at the opposite sides of post 85.

As best shown in Fig. 4, each of the panels 8, 9 and I8 comprises three or more sections 8a, 8b, 8c, 9a, 9b, 9c and Illa, |0b, |00, respectively, which are interconnected at adjacent side edges by posts 00, 8|, the sections being secured to the posts by means of angle irons 80, 84 and 81, as described.

For positively preventing the spreading apart of the panels, I provide guide bars which are secured together in spaced relationship by a cross bar 90 and by a yoke 94 secured to post 85. At

way so that the doorway is entirely free of obstruction from side to side.

While I have restored to considerable detail for the purpose of making my invention understood, I wish it understood that within the broader scope of my invention, as dened by the appended claims, various modifications and adaptations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination with a building structure having a doorway and a superstructure over the doorway, oppositely disposed track members, one carried vertically by each side of the superstructure, a closure for the doorway comprising panels disposed in face to face relation and relatively vertically slidably mounted in the doorway one end of the guide bars |00 there is rotatably mounted a pair of guide rollers 9| which travel along the channels provided at the opposite sides of the I-shaped post 92 secured to post |4. Yoke 94 mounts a pair of guide rollers 95 which travel I:

along the channels provided at opposite sides of the post Ma.

As best shown in Fig. 2, each of the posts 8|, 82, 85 carries a pair of yokes which mount guide rollers-that is, post 8| carries two yokes |05, |05a, post 82 carries a pair of yokes |08, |08a and post 85 carries a pair of yokes 94, 94a, the yokes of each pair being spaced apart vertically along the post.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that operation of the device is as follows. To move the panels from the telescoped position of Fig. 3 to the expanded or closing position of Fig. 2, motors M are operated to unwind the cables 40, 4|, 42 to permit the panels 8, 9, l0 to move downwardly of their own weight. In this movement, guide bars |00 travel downwardly from the position of Fig. 3 to the position of Fig, 2, guide rollers 9| and 95 travelling along the channels provided by I-shaped posts 92 and |4a, respectively. To telescope the door panels, the operation is in reverse direction. In the course of this movement guide rollers |06, |09 travel along the channels provided by posts 82, 85, respectively, the panels being prevented from spreading apart by engagement of the rollers with the sides of the posts. The panel posts being thus interconnected, they are always guided in a uniform path and the intermediate parts of the door panels between the side edges are reenforced and held against spreading apart and against such relative play as would permit them to unduly vibrate and cause objectionable rattling noises. When the door panels are retracted into the position of Fig. 3, the intermediate supporting posts are also withdrawn from the doorwhereby to be movable from overlapping relation closing the doorway to nested position within the superstructure, cooperating track and roller means carried respectively by adjacent panels for guiding relative vertical movement but preventing relative lateral movement therebetween, a cross member disposed transversely of the superstructure and having at its respective ends roller means engaging the iirst-mentioned track members, means securing one of the panels to said cross member, a driven shaft journalled 1ongitudinally of the superstructure medially over the closure and above the cross member, a pulley secured on the shaft, and lift cables windable at one end about the pulley and secured respectively at their other ends to the respective panels.

2. A closure for the doorway of a building including opposite vertically disposed tracks above the doorway, a pair of door members mounted in the doorway for relative movement upwardly into nested position above the doorway, a vertical post carried by each door member, each post presenting a vertical track and having an extension projecting above the top edge of the door member by which it is carried, a pair of vertically spaced roller members carried by one post extension and having rolling engagement with the track of the other post, a pair of vertically spaced rollers carried by the other post extension and having rolling engagement with one of the first-mentioned tracks, a strut member extending between the first-mentioned tracks, said strut member being secured at one end to one of the post extensions, and roller means carried by the other end of the strut member and having rolling engagement with the other of the firstmentioned tracks.

'3. A closure for the doorway of a building including opposite vertically disposed tracks above the doorway, a pair of door members mounted in the doorway for relative movement upwardly into nested position above the doorway, a vertical post carried by each door member, each post presenting a vertical track and having an extension projecting above the top edge of the door member by which it is carried, a pair of vertically spaced roller members carried by one post extension and having rolling engagement with the track of the other post, and a strut member extending between and having rolling engagement with the first-mentioned tracks, said strut member being secured to one of the post extensions.

LYNN E. JACKSON. 

